Yes, hearing the hosts’ feedback and thoughts as they watch the episodes back is fun. More fun, to this interviewer at least, is the side tangents, fun conversations, and razzing that goes on between the three amigos during each episode.
“That’s what I love the most. I love watching the show. I really do. It was a wonderful time in my life, but I was able to experience everything that we’re going through right now with my two best friends,” Friedele agreed. “We’re on the road., we’re coming to Cleveland, and we’re doing the POD Meets World Live shows. We’re traveling together. We’re losing luggage together. We’re having strange encounters in airports together. We are going to some of the most beautiful stages in the country together. Getting to do all of that brings the relationship to the next level. We’ve always had these conversations. We haven’t had to make any errors for the podcast. We just started recording the conversations that we always had. We’ve been razzing Danielle about her driving since Boy Meets World. Rider, the same. So these are all just conversations we’re now kind of catching on tape, but they’ve been happening for 30 years.“
Friedele was the oldest of the “child” actors on Boy Meets World, but that was from crowning him the “adult” amongst them on set. The podcast is no different. He says that he’s not the captain.
“Danielle keeps us on the straight and narrow,” he said emphatically. “We make sure that we listen to Danielle because she’s the organized one. No, I am the one who likes talking about superheroes and television, painting miniature figures, and playing Dungeons and Dragons. That’s me. I’m a child at heart. If you’re following me, undoubtedly, we’re lost. So yeah, let’s make sure we follow Danielle. She’s the one who knows where we’re going. We realized at the beginning of doing this that we needed one person driving the ship. You can’t have three leaders. It just doesn’t work that way. Rider and I, knowing Danielle, and knowing how focused she is in this stuff, said, ‘You’ve got to be the person to take the reins of this.’ She very graciously accepted the challenge. She will do some stuff for the opening to bring in a guest or something like that, but for the most part, it’s all off the cuff. I’d say 98% of it isn’t written. There are no notes, but she is the one who, when Rider and I especially start to veer off track, which is something that happens very often; she pulls us right back.“
Due to the current SAG-AFTRA strike, Friedle was limited about the level of specifics he is permitted to speak on regarding the filming of Boy Meets World. He was able to talk about the gratification that comes with being part of that show and knowing how much it meant to some viewers
“It’s such an unbelievably cliched answer, but it’s true that I’m honored to have done it. I really am,'” he said. “I am a television nerd, aficionado, lover, whatever you want to call it. TV is an exceptionally important part of my life and always has been. TV has been my best friend since I can remember. I was named after a television character. My first full sentence was based off of a television show. These are all true facts. The idea that I even got to be involved in this much of a show that was important to people is huge. It’s just such an honor for me. And again, I know that’s the typical answer that an actor gives. I’m so honored to be part of this thing. You kind of roll your eyes at people when they say it, but anybody who knows me, who knows how much I love television, knows what I mean when I say how incredible an opportunity it was that I was able to be a part of something that I love so much.”
“I think with a lot of the stuff going on in the world right now, that comfort TV is what people look for,” Friedele continued. “I know I do it with my favorite old shows. I still do it with Mash. I still do it with everything that I grew up watching. And boy, that’s what Boy Me’s world is to a lot of people. So the idea, I mean, again, when we’re doing these podcast live shows, we get to meet the fans and the stories we hear about how the show touched them. Again, not an exaggeration, there has not been a single show we have done with the meet and greets where Danielle does not end up in tears over somebody’s story of what Boy Meets World meant to them. It is just hugely important for people, and it couldn’t mean more to us. It really couldn’t.”
POD MEETS WORLD LIVE: THE KIDS WANNA JUMP tour is doing something differently than some podcast tours. Oftentimes, these live shows are tapings of podcast episodes that are made available for public consumption shortly after completion. There will be no podcast episodes taped live in the theaters on this tour, instead, it will be Will, Rider, and Danielle interacting and having fun with the audience.
“It’s a completely separate live show where we get up there and tell stories. Most of the stories aren’t being told on the podcast. It’s just us kind of getting up there and screwing around with each other. We do some fun stuff on stage,” Friedele explained. “We do some question and answer with the audience. We bring audience members up on stage to help us out with certain things, and we do a costume contest. It’s just a big night of fun for everybody to come out. We make everybody put away their cell phones. It’s the nineties again in the theater as far as we’re concerned where everybody’s engaged. People are yelling stuff out at us; we’re yelling stuff back. It is so much fun.”
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